Page 122 of I Choose You

I closed my eyes, feeling the sting of tears at his voice. It was Kaden.

I’d yearned for him all day. All those hours, I wished he’d just look at me once. Some small token of support. A little reminder that I wasn’t alone and unwanted here.

But no. I’d never get that ever again. I’d ruined anything we could have ever had between us.

He knocked again. “Brooke? Open the door.”

“No.”

He knocked harder. “Brooke. Let me in.”

I sniffled and blinked quickly. Fanning my face as I paced back and forth, I drew in a shaky breath. I didn’t want to face him like this. I didn’t want him to see me breaking apart. I’d never felt so vulnerable as I did at this moment. I felt small and mean, and so damn foolish.

Ugly. Poor. Fat. Cheap. Frumpy.

I shook my head, trying to shut out the criticism.

I’m worthy. But he’d made it clear. I wasn’t worth anything to him anymore, not even as a fake date.

I couldn’t face him when he despised me. When he treated me like I was invisible.

“Let me in.”

I gripped the doorknob and turned the lock. If I didn’t let him in, someone would likely hear him. Drawing more attention to myself wouldn’t help anything.

I opened the door and stepped back, sniffling one last time.

He stepped into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

41

KADEN

Something is wrong.

As soon as I stepped into the bathroom and she turned away from me, I knew it. She sniffled, and I felt like an ass, wishing she would look up at me.

I suspected something was up when I saw her escaping into the house. All day, it took every last fucking ounce of my willpower to ignore her. If I gave in to this ache of missing her and looked at her during that shopping ordeal, I wouldn’t have been able to look away. She pulled me to her, and I wasn’t strong enough.

I was weak when it came to her. I didn’t know how to do this. I thought it would be simple. Keep it business only. Nothing personal. No feelings. But I was already screwed in that department. My emotions were all jacked up from her. Missing her. Worrying about her. Wanting her. She made my head hurt. My dick ached. And this pain that clawed at my chest, this concern that she might be hurting, destroyed me.

I watched her step away from me as I stayed by the door. “Brooke?”

Fuck. I couldn’t have it both ways. After she confessed her plans and apologized, I locked down behind walls, refusing to consider a chance of letting her affect me. I firmly told myself nothing could happen, and she got to me anyway, reminding me of all the ways I wanted her.

And how stupid was that? She showed me that she didn’t care about me and only wanted to be here for money, and I still couldn’t help myself. My eyes were drawn to her. My hands itched to feel those soft, sexy curves and lean muscles. I ached to fill her, to drive into her so deep I didn’t know where she began and I ended.

I wanted her with an unholy, stubborn need that I had to resist.

If I’d gone to her during this event, I would have been tempted to cave. And where would that leave me when I remembered she didn’t care about me?

Destroyed. Fucking miserable.

I couldn’t stand to look at her in the sexy dress and know she couldn’t be mine. But I tortured myself anyway, glancing over when she couldn’t see. Committing the image to memory, I saw just how gorgeous she was in that glittering, fitted gown I wished I could rip off.

Fuck me, it had two slits.

I suspected she wasn’t holding up when I noticed her running into the house. When I saw that she’d last been standing at a table across from Kody, I grew curious. He’d been frowning after her with too much curiosity on his face. And as he faced forward and found me staring at him, he’d smirked.